Category: Bible (Page 102 of 356)

I don’t believe the shiny new phone touted across my screens will make me into a hip dude. That’s going to take a lot more than an expensive gadget in my pocket. I’m skeptical of politicians promising change, diets leading to six-pack abs, and gluten-free bread.

So when Thomas expresses his doubt about the resurrection of Jesus, I follow with a hearty Amen!

The most famous doubter of all time said, Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

It only took a week to call his bluff. The resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples, turned to Thomas and said, Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop doubting and believe.

Thomas responded, My Lord and my God!

How gracious of Jesus to confront Thomas in the midst of his doubts. Thomas responded enthusiastically, spreading the good news of Jesus’s resurrection far and wide. Tradition holds he was martyred in India by a spear in the side, much like his Savior on the cross. Once his doubts were settled, Thomas never turned back.

I like knowing I can doubt. Jesus knows how to handle doubt, and it’s best to take our doubts straight to the Lord. Thomas challenged what he heard about Jesus, who then met him in his doubting state. I can take my doubts to Jesus in a similar way, converse and argue with God, then see if and how the Holy Spirit settles my questions.

Maybe not as dramatic as Jesus showing up in my room and asking me to poke him in the side, but I’ll never know until I ask.

John 20 in reading the Bible in 2023

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio, 1601

Lazarus lay dead in the grave several days before Jesus showed up. A big reveal in mind, Jesus loitered along the way. But after he arrived it didn’t take long for the place to erupt.

Martha, Lazarus’s sister, ran out to meet Jesus. She looked to Jesus for comfort in this time of pain. Jesus told her, Your brother will rise again. Martha agreed—I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

Martha believed that all who follow the Lord will resurrect someday in the future. To her first hearing, Jesus’s words brought a bit of consolation, like we might say, someday you’ll meet him again in a better place.

But Jesus didn’t mean someday, he meant today. He told Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?

The one who resurrects looked into Martha’s eyes. Then Jesus moved to the tomb and gave a hint of his power, a foretaste of what’s to come, by calling for Lazarus. Resurrected, Lazarus staggered out to the joy and confusion and fear of the crowd.

Martha stood between her brother peeling burial shrouds off his face and a laughing God in the flesh. What a moment to be alive. The lightning bolt of Jesus seared her life and she worshipped.

Jesus is still the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Jesus live, even though we all eventually die, and his question is still appropriate:

Do you believe this?

John 11 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Tony L 

I’m not sure I could have done it. Most likely I’d have kept my head down and waited for better circumstances. No one asked for a martyr.

Jealous advisors hood-winked the all-powerful King Darius into issuing a pretentious decree: Anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to you, Your Majesty, shall be thrown into the lion’s den.

Daniel got the news and did not hesitate:

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

I would have prayed with the shutters closed. Or with the windows open but kneeling further back in the room, out of sight of conniving co-workers. I might have moved my devotionals to the middle of the night. I don’t believe God would blame me.

Daniel, on the other hand, pushed open the windows and took a knee, a daring act of civil disobedience. Daniel may have felt that if not now, eventually these twisted advisors would figure out a way to dispose of him. Might as well face them head-on.

We know the story. God rescued Daniel from the mouths of the lions. The king and nation understood the power of the God. The bad guys got what they deserved.

But walking up the stairs, opening the windows and going to his knees proved the greatest demonstration of faith in Daniel’s life and one of the most magnificent in the Bible. Don’t hesitate. Don’t hide. The Lord who tamed the lions can tame the most ardent critics in our lives as well.

Daniel 6 in reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Mona Eendra

Did you know that Jesus prayed specifically for you and me? In his last days on the earth he prayed for his disciples, then turned his attention all of us who came later:

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, just as you are in me and I am in you…I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Jesus prayed for unity among all his followers. Honestly, I ain’t seen much of that over the years. But if Jesus prayed it, seems like I should try to follow him in that direction.

I can listen to my fellow believers, engage in theological hospitality, reserve judgement and disagree with respect. Practice loving by faith, and those outside our churches begin to take notice. Not much goodwill emerges from our societal discourses. A broad variety of professing Christians, focused together on Jesus, points to a hopeful direction.

Lord, knit us together. Today make me a small answer to your prayer for unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

John 17 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Brian Wangenheim